Introduction

One of the greatest social reformer in Bengal .He carried out his mission among the subaltern population .Later people from all sections, irrespective of caste and creed or religion joined him to make it a great success. Whether Catholic Missionaries or The Hindus or The followers of Brahmoism, all acknowledged his great contribution in the Bengal Renaissance among the poor and marginalised people. He started his mission with a view to spread education and create self-respect among these people and at the same time he insisted for removing of all kinds of social bashing which is a curse in Indian society.

Life and Family

He was born in a Namasudra (Namassej)

Namasudra (Namassej)

Namasudra is the name of a Hindu community originally from certain regions of Bengal, India. They were traditionally engaged in cultivation and as boatmen. However, they lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system...

(then called candala) peasant religiously vaishnab family. His original name was Sri Harichand Biswas. His family was believed to be belonging to Gautama Clan ( later the community members agreed to be identified as belonging to Kasyapa clan ; in the different census reports of eightieth century the "namasudras" were found to identifying themselves as belonging to four different clans or gotras kasyapa,bhardwaja,goutama or(n)lomoso ) .He was born in 1812. His place of birth is Safaldanga, Gopalgaunge( now in Bangladesh ).Later He moved to Odakandi,Faridpur. His family had five brothers(pancha shahadar, found in vandana): Krishnadas, Harichand, Vaishnavdas, Gouridas and Sharupdas. At a very early age he accepted the path of religious reformation for giving service to and uplifting the subaltern people of Bengal. He experienced atmadarshan ( self-realisation ) and preached his ideologies and religious philosophy in twelve commandments and asked his followers to pursue his works .He established Matua Mahasangha

Matua Mahasangha

-Introduction:Matua is a sect of Hindu folk-religion. Matua-mahasangha refers to a religious reformation movement and all the people associated in any way with this movement. The great reformation movement was launched by Sri Harichand Thakur's followers. He is popularly known as God Harichand...

. His followers consider him as God ( Thakur ) Harichad and as an Avatar of Lord Vishnu .Thus He became Sri Sri Harichand Thakur. He left us in 1877 in Odakandi. He married Shantimata and his son was Shri Shri Guruchand Thakur, born in 1846.

External links

• Matua Mahasangha
  Matua Mahasangha
  -Introduction:Matua is a sect of Hindu folk-religion. Matua-mahasangha refers to a religious reformation movement and all the people associated in any way with this movement. The great reformation movement was launched by Sri Harichand Thakur's followers. He is popularly known as God Harichand...
  
  
• Vaishnabism
• Namasudra (Namassej)
  Namasudra (Namassej)
  Namasudra is the name of a Hindu community originally from certain regions of Bengal, India. They were traditionally engaged in cultivation and as boatmen. However, they lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system...
  
  
• Website dedicated to Namasudra Samaj:namasudra.com